*Select image to view full version of Siting Transmission Corridors Game board.

In the massive effort to attain energy independence by connecting vast renewable energy resources with energy-hungry population centers, power transmission lines are both the obstacles and the solution—the chutes and ladders—to success.

Everyone wants to harness the energy from wind, sun, earth, and tides, but moving it can be tricky. Transmission corridors are the means by which energy moves from source to destination. They are integral to energy conversion and creation of a sustainable energy portfolio. They are also a source of job growth and economic opportunity.

Energy entrepreneurs, transmission developers, public utilities, state legislatures, and federal regulators are all engaged in the ultimate goal of moving renewable energy. They may all differ on siting specifics, but proponents and opponents agree—load growth, construction permits, wildlife protection, property rights, and other concerns must all be addressed before lines can be built.

Establishing a national siting policy significantly increases the likelihood of using clean, renewable energy by encompassing a single process to plan, permit, and pay for transmission lines.

While the childhood game of Chutes and Ladders can provide hours of fun and relies on luck, the real life challenge of Siting Transmission Corridors can take years of skillful navigation with millions of dollars on the line.

In the game, a ladder enables a competitor to advance quickly through the maze of daily accomplishments, while a chute represents a setback, the result of imaginary consequences. Players move their game pieces through a series of consecutively-numbered spaces, with the goal of being the first to finish.

In Siting Transmission Corridors, however, the goal is to methodically overcome financial and regulatory challenges.

In the real life scenario, renewable sources, technology, and load growth might be seen as opportunities, or ladders. Chutes, on the other hand, are aging infrastructures, rates, regulations, and litigation.

This is a contest of gateways and gatekeepers, of opportunities and consequences, of collaboration and determination. Unlike child’s play, where winning is based on chance, the challenge here is to forge alliances between new technologies and aging infrastructures, and to strategize mutually satisfactory outcomes while avoiding game-ending chutes.

*Chutes and Ladders is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc. for its board game.

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